Share this:

Winter in central and south Texas means not being able to wear shorts all week long. If I have to wear pants more than two days in a row I get real grumpy. These cold fronts that start to dip down this far south, really disrupts our nice warm weather.

If I had it my way, this whole winter thing would be skipped every year. I guess I should not complain as overall the winters in San Antonio are not really that bad. In contrast I am originally from north Texas and there the winters were mixed with occasional snow and ice plus the 100 degree summers. Up there we also got the bonus of dodging tornados every now and then. No wonder I left as soon as I could.

For practical purposes kayak fishing at the coast in shorts is over. Yes, decent days of moderate weather arrive from time to time at the coast, but you cannot plan a trip ahead of time. When those type of days arrive, you get up and go, but it is on very short notice.

Some people wear waders and kayak fish, but that is not my preference. Just like hot coffee is not my preference for caffeine in the morning. I prefer a cold Coke. After all if it is 110 degrees outside, why put 120 degrees inside of you?
So the question begs, “What to do during the winter?”

My definition of kayak fishing is using a sit-on-top kayak to paddle around on a shallow water flat and locate some redfish. Then jump out and sight cast to them with a fly rod. The physical part of paddling is welcomed. At some point I know I will not be able to paddle five miles a day, but for now I relish the shoulders of steel that develop by the end of the summer. If I only knew how do achieve the buns of steel while paddling.

During winter trying to figure out how to keep in shape is the problem. I have never joined a gym. Their countless rooms full of chrome and iron never appealed to me. The mystical choices of membership, dues, no dues, free months, etc; were too fat for my skinny mind to understand.

Besides I have never encountered a machine that duplicates the paddling motion and the forces associated with pulling back a paddle. That is until late one night, unable to sleep I caught an infomercial. Through the blurry vision that comes at 2:00 am, lying sideways on my sofa without my glasses on, while channel surfing, I saw a fit couple extolling the features of some new wonder machine.

The couple turned out to be rather fit Christi Brinkley and a rather old Chuck Norris (I had put my glasses on by now). Their product was an inclined bench on two rails. It had two cables connected to the bench that ran up and over some pulleys then ended in two handles.

The object was to sit on the bench facing up towards the incline. By pulling on the handles, the bench slid up the rails. In essence you were the weight being moved rather than some barbell weight being lifted up in the air. The higher the incline, the harder it is to move the bench. This resistance is what made you fitter, slimmer, trimmer, etc. What intrigued me was the pulling back simulated pulling back on a paddle.

This simple machine did have a fancy price for the deluxe model they were showing on TV. The next morning I did some internet prospecting and found a plain model (without the chrome) and with a better price locally, so I bought it. I forgot what they call this machine, but I call it the “Chuck Norris Machine.”

The other thing for fly casters is the lack of casting during this timeframe. Some anglers will head to the Guadalupe River and chase rainbow trout and that is fine, but casts are shorter and rods are lighter. You can take an 8-weight, which is what we use at the coast, to the Guadalupe, but the moving current is foreign as at the coast we put motion in the fly by stripping it back rather than letting the water put motion on the fly by moving it downstream.

While not restrictive to central Texas or to winter, fly anglers as an unofficial rule never practice. Softballers go to batting cages, golfers go to driving ranges, fly fisherman watch in on TV. They do not practice, at all!

To avoid this, I lay a Hula-Hoop on the ground and cast to it. I try to get the hookless fly to land in the ring from 60 feet away. Most fish anywhere on the planet can be caught 45 to 55 feet away. The more accurate I can get from further away, they better I can do from closer distances.

Sometimes I will get fancy and bring my wooden tailing redfish out. Years ago I had my brother-in-law cut out a profile of a 24 inch redfish out of a one inch board. He then stuck a metal rod into its chin so that when you stick the pointed rod into the lawn, the redfish looks like it is in a tailing position. He made two of these for me.

I then place the Hula-Hoop in front of the wooden red’s nose. Throughout the practice session I will move around so that I see different angles of approach to it and make the appropriate adjustments to my cast. The helpful thing is that if you line the wooden red, it does not scoot away, you get a second shot or third if needed.

When I moved from the last house to the current one, somehow I lost the booklet (detailing over 50 exercises you can do) and the DVD that came with the machine. I also lost one of the wooden redfish. No matter, I was only interested in one exercise and that is what I do during the winter months to keep in shape. As far as the wooden red, I still had another one, but the idea of getting my brother-in-law to make a couple more so that I could create a school of reds on the front lawn has lost steam.

Every now and then I catch the infomercial. Christine Brinkley gets fitter and old Chuck gets, well, . . older. That is OK as my shoulder blades of steel do not dissolve into mounds of flab because the Chuck Norris Machine is still my best friend during winter.

Share this:

Lefty Ray Chapa is a San Antonio, TX based, freelance photographer & writer specializing in outdoor subjects like fly fishing, kayak fishing, & duck hunting. When not guiding on the Texas Hill Country rivers he is teaching fly casting or kayak fishing at the nearby saltwater coast.

Contact: Follow:

About Racks & Reels

News and information on hunting, archery and fishing in South and Central Texas. Boating, lake level and river level information provided for Braunig Lake, Lake Calaveras, Canyon Lake, Medina Lake and others. Whitetail deer and turkey season information and tips.